Tourism development comes to Saudi Arabian UNESCO World Heritage Site city

The CEO of the Royal Commission for Al-Ula, Amr Madani, made an announcement during the launch of “Hammayah” community advocacy program designed to promote heritage and environmental preservation, that Al-Ula – home to UNESCO World Heritage Site Madain Saleh, will be revealed to the world once tourism-related projects in the region are complete. The program is expected to create 2,500 jobs in the region. The Royal Commission for Al-Ula (RCU) was established in 2017 by the royal decree.

“We are delighted to be launching one of the most significant community initiatives in Al-Ula,” said Abdul Aziz Al-Aqeel, RCU operations officer. “We are encouraging our people to be custodians of their homelands. Al-Ula is a place of extraordinary history and heritage.” Intra-Kingdom travelers have engraved many messages on the rocks and mountains of Al-Ula over hundreds of years, according to Madani.

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“We are now hoping tourists will come in from abroad,” he said. “We want to ensure a strategic plan is in place before investors begin launching their businesses in the region. There has been human activity in the area for thousands of years and every generation has left behind traces of their existence. In fact, the vast landscape is dotted with some of the most fascinating and significant archaeological remains in the Middle East and North Africa.” Tourism will account for 70 percent of Al-Ula’s economy. “The region will have a tourism college by 2019,” added Madani.

Elephant poaching in Africa declined for a fifth straight year by last year but seizures of illegal ivory hit higher records the same period, Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species CITES monitor said last week.